How Three Founders Built a Free Bill Splitting Tool on Slack
Who is Md Shadab Alam?
BillSplit was co-founded by Sai Bhaskar Devatha and Md Shadab Alam, both of whom are technology enthusiasts with a background in building productivity tools.
What problem does BillSplit solve?
BillSplit makes it painless to manage shared expenses with colleagues on Slack, avoiding awkward reminders and tedious calculations.
How did Md come up with the idea for BillSplit?
During a casual outing with colleagues, the founders of BillSplit noticed a recurring hassle—keeping track of who owed what after group expenses. Often, one person would cover the bill, and then they would need to manually calculate each person's share, communicate the split via group messages, and hope everyone paid up. Realizing the awkwardness and inefficiency of this process, they set out to find a simpler solution.
They decided to integrate bill-splitting directly into Slack, a platform many offices already use, to eliminate extra steps. Early validation came from their own experiences and discussions with colleagues, who echoed the frustration of manual bill tracking. The team refined their idea by incorporating feedback, which pointed out the need for features like unequal bill splitting, reminders, and an easy overview of pending payments.
One of the lessons they learned was that by solving a specific annoyance they themselves faced, they could create a tool with broad appeal. The challenge was translating a personal pain point into a...
